Biden’s Electric-Vehicle Hustle

Joe Biden’s Electric Vehicle Policy and the Challenges Ahead

Joe Biden never said, “If you like your gas-powered car, you can keep your gas-powered car,” in the manner of his former boss dissembling to the American people about doctors and Obamacare. Instead, candidate Biden said the quiet part out loud to a CNN town hall in 2019. We need to “get internal-combustion-engine vehicles off the road,” he said. Once in office, he followed through with executive orders and policy changes that aimed to do just that. The White House proposed strict carbon dioxide emissions rules that would force carmakers to slash production of gas-powered vehicles over the next few years. Biden also signed legislation allocating billions to building new charging stations, subsidizing battery factories, and granting some car buyers rebates of up to $7,500 when they buy an EV.

For a time, it looked as if Biden’s EV boom was starting to materialize. Fully battery-powered electric vehicles—BEVs—commanded nearly 8 percent of U.S. light-duty vehicle sales last year, up from about 2 percent when Biden took office. And U.S. carmakers have poured tens of billions into ramping up their EV production lines. But for the EV revolution to continue, electric vehicles must grow their appeal beyond early adopters and catch on with mainstream car buyers. In a 2022 Tech Commentary column, I observed that EVs were niche vehicles purchased mostly by affluent buyers looking for a high-tech (and high-status) second or third car. “But the administration is fooling itself if it thinks most Americans are itching to become part of the EV elite,” I wrote.

The Current State of EV Sales

This year, the EV juggernaut is beginning to run out of juice. After years of explosive growth, EV sales have leveled off and even dropped in some cases. Tesla’s global sales plunged a stunning 8.5 percent in the first quarter, compared with the same period in 2023. GM’s EV sales also fell. And, since demand for gas vehicles was stronger, EVs actually declined as a percentage of total new-car sales, dropping to 7.1 percent. A CNN business report recently wondered at how “EVs became such a massive disappointment.”

Even before sales plateaued, automakers who had bet on a rapid EV transition could see trouble ahead. Last year, Honda pulled out of a planned venture with GM to build a line of affordable EVs, citing a changing business climate. Despite strong buzz around its F-150 Lightning pickup and Mustang Mach-E, Ford managed to lose $4.7 billion on its EV business last year. That works out to a loss of nearly $65,000 for each vehicle sold, the Wall Street Journal calculates. Ford is now slashing its EV workforce. “Demand is much slower than the industry expected,” Ford’s CFO John Lawler told reporters. The car-rental company Hertz is in trouble after buying 60,000 EVs, which many customers refused to rent. The experiment was “a horror show,” one analyst told CNN. Apparently, no matter how hard the administration pushes, most U.S. drivers aren’t ready to take a ride down electric avenue.

The Role of Toyota and the Limitations of EVs

Interestingly, one of the few global carmakers that hasn’t gone all-in on all-electric vehicles is Toyota, the company that pioneered the gas-electric hybrid concept in the late 1990s. Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda has repeatedly predicted that pure battery electric vehicles will reach no more than a 30 percent global market share. That’s why Toyota puts more emphasis on hybrid technology and on plug-in hybrids that combine a combustion engine with a modest battery pack that gives the car an all-electric range of 40 miles or more. The company is also researching hydrogen fuel cells. Toyoda said he believes that “customers, not regulations or politics” should determine drive-train choices.

I think Toyoda is right. BEVs are a promising development in automotive technology. They can be great for drivers in urban or suburban regions with mild climates. But electric cars are not for everyone. They struggle to cope with extreme heat and cold. And most people find them impractical in rural areas or for long road trips. In a 2023 survey conducted by the Associated Press, 80 percent of respondents said the lack of sufficient charging stations was one reason they wouldn’t buy an EV; 70 percent cited long charging times. But despite the public’s hesitation, the White House insists that switching to electric vehicles is the most important single thing we can do to fight climate change. In the administration’s reasoning, that goal is so vital that it merits overriding the desires of most American drivers.

The Environmental and Technical Realities of EVs

But Biden’s EV policy is based on wishful thinking at best, and on an ignorance of environmental and technical realities at worst. For starters, the environmental benefits of EVs are exaggerated. Obviously, a pure-electric vehicle has no tailpipe emissions. But how clean are the power plants producing the electricity the vehicle consumes? And what about all the carbon emissions and environmental degradation involved in mining and processing the minerals that go into an EV’s motors and batteries? Most of those dirty operations take place far from U.S. shores, but that doesn’t make their impact any less real. And, with its massive battery pack, a typical EV is more than 1,500 pounds heavier than a comparable internal-combustion vehicle. That extra weight means the car produces much more toxic dust as brakes and tires wear faster. Once all those costs are factored in, it’s an open question whether an EV’s lifetime environmental footprint is dramatically better than that of a modern hybrid vehicle.

Biden’s EV policy also largely ignores the problem of producing and delivering the massive amounts of electricity this planned fleet of EVs would demand. “Widespread adoption of EVs will require an unprecedented and staggeringly expensive expansion of local electrical grids,” write National Center for Energy Analytics director Mark Mills and my Manhattan Institute colleague Jonathan Lesser in the Wall Street Journal. Where today’s gas stations use as much electricity as a typical convenience store, the tens of thousands of proposed EV charging stations would each require enough electricity to power an entire town. Mills and Lesser estimate that the beefier transformers and other grid upgrades required to meet this demand could cost more than $1 trillion by 2035.

The Future of Gas-Powered Cars

In March, the EPA finally released its official CO2 emissions rules. Some deadlines were slightly relaxed compared with the administration’s initial proposal. But the plan still forces automakers to limit internal-com

SDGs, Targets, and Indicators Analysis

1. Which SDGs are addressed or connected to the issues highlighted in the article?

• SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy
• SDG 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
• SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
• SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
• SDG 13: Climate Action

The issues highlighted in the article are connected to these SDGs because they discuss the transition from gas-powered vehicles to electric vehicles (EVs) and the impact of this transition on energy, infrastructure, cities, consumption, production, and climate.

2. What specific targets under those SDGs can be identified based on the article’s content?

• Target 7.2: Increase substantially the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix.
• Target 9.4: Upgrade infrastructure and retrofit industries to make them sustainable.
• Target 11.6: Reduce the adverse per capita environmental impact of cities.
• Target 12.2: Achieve sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources.
• Target 13.2: Integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies, and planning.

The article discusses the need for renewable energy sources to power EVs, the infrastructure upgrades required for EV charging stations, the environmental impact of EVs in cities, the resource-intensive production of EVs, and the role of EVs in reducing emissions.

3. Are there any indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets?

• Indicator 7.2.1: Renewable energy share in the total final energy consumption.
• Indicator 9.4.1: CO2 emissions per unit of value added.
• Indicator 11.6.1: Proportion of urban solid waste regularly collected and with adequate final discharge out of total urban solid waste generated.
• Indicator 12.2.1: Material footprint, material footprint per capita, and material footprint per GDP.
• Indicator 13.2.1: Number of countries that have communicated the establishment or operationalization of an integrated policy/strategy/plan which increases their ability to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change.

The article mentions the need to measure the share of renewable energy in total energy consumption, CO2 emissions per unit of value added, the management of urban solid waste, material footprint per capita and GDP, and the establishment of policies/strategies/plans to adapt to climate change.

4. Table: SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

This table summarizes the identified SDGs, targets, and indicators based on the analysis of the article.

Behold! This splendid article springs forth from the wellspring of knowledge, shaped by a wondrous proprietary AI technology that delved into a vast ocean of data, illuminating the path towards the Sustainable Development Goals. Remember that all rights are reserved by SDG Investors LLC, empowering us to champion progress together.

Source: commentary.org

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